News and views about the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 and other legislation, schemes and policies impacting the Right to Education of India's Children.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Four city schools take RTE to slum children’s doorstep

Bucking the trend of city schools soft-pedalling on admitting
children from impoverished families under the Right to Education (RTE)
Act, four schools are going all out to ensure the 25% quota is filled
this year.

On Thursday, the schools run by Goenka and Associates Educational
Trust in Goregaon and Thane collected 33 applications by knocking on
doors in the slums in their vicinity and informing residents their
nursery seats were available to them.
Lakshadham School, Goregaon; Playmate Pre Primary School, Goregaon;
Vasant Vihar School, Thane, and Thane Police School are among the first
in the city to follow the new RTE norms that require them to identify
and admit students from economically or socially weaker sections at the
entry level.
“Many children in our neighbourhood do not attend schools though
there are so many educational institutions in the area as families are
scared or reluctant to approach big schools,” said a spokesperson for
the trust.
On the first day of their drive, the school staff visited over 1,000
households within a three-kilometer radius —Pathanwadi, Mhada Complex
and Ekatmik Bal Vikas Aanganwadi in Goregaon, and Kalwa, Mumbra,
Ghodbunder Road, Vartak Nagar, Upovan and other areas in Thane.
The trust has published handbills in English and Marathi explaining
the application process, and has even composed a song on how school is
fun.